Kannur: In a rare incident, the king cobra hatchlings found at two places in Kannur district will undergo a DNA test soon. Two sets of eggs were hatched recently at a private snake park in Parassinikadavu and in a private property at Kottiyoor, where the forest department officials were monitoring the proceed.
However, doubts were raised over the source of the eggs and the forest department recommended a DNA test to unravel the mystery.
The private snake park authorities had insisted that the eggs were sourced from the park itself and claimed that they were in possession of relevant documents to prove this but the forest department was not ready to accept the claim.
The park had claimed that 11 eggs were found in its property on May 29, and four of them hatched on July 27. According to officials, the park has special arrangements for king cobras to mate.
Despite the park's strong arguments, wildlife experts expressed doubts over the claim saying king cobras normally lay 25 or more eggs at a time and it would take at least 80 days to hatch. As per the data at the park, the eggs were 61 days old. However, it is not confirmed whether the park officials found the eggs a couple of weeks after they were laid.
In another incident, the forest department had found 26 king cobra eggs from a private property at Kottiyoor 87 days ago. Of the 26 eggs, 23 hatched on Sunday (July 29). Paternity tests will be conducted for these hatchlings also along with the ones from the park.
The department had found eggs at the Kottiyoor property last year also. It, however, remained unclear how many eggs hatched and where the hatchlings were released then.
The king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) females lay around 12 to 60 eggs per year approximately 9 weeks after mating. According to experts, the eggs hatch during the monsoon season after 45 to 80 day period of incubation.
